Bernard Axelrad Scholarship Fund

On the morning of Saturday January 18, 1997, as I walked west on Pico Blvd. toward the services at our main sanctuary, my feet, almost involuntarily, turned right at the Religious School and I entered the first Shivyon minyan service, where men and women fully participate in the service. Frankly, I had not intended to go to this Shivyon minyan. Yet, I had the utmost respect for Annette Berman, the organizer and orchestrator of this innovation, and I had a great deal of affection for Abe Berman, whose 77th birthday was to be celebrated thereat, so my feet led me there.

Like many older members of our Congregation, I was opposed to this minyan on principle, having a strong belief in maintaining the orthodoxy and historic traditions of our religion. It was quite foreign to me to think of women getting an aliyah, reading from the Torah scrolls and leading the davening. I felt, as did a prominent female member of our synagogue who said, "I am not religious but my father would turn over in his grave if I went up to the Torah for an aliyah". There is also no gainsaying the power of tradition, precedent and custom in maintaining the sanctity of our religious procedures.

Do we jettison procedures and traditions which have been handed down for thousands of years and helped bring us through The Diaspora? On the other hand, is our religion and all its customs and tradition so immutable as not to countenance change or is it malleable enough to adapt selectively to modern circumstances and demands. I confess I have no answer, and in all probability there is no answer - and individual subjective attitudes will prevail.

In many ways the issue is moot since The Board of Governors (with the approval of Rabbi Kelemer and President Markman) has authorized such a Shivyon minyan service on specific Saturdays. Most important, it is not in lieu of but in addition to our regular services and is held in a separate room just as the newly-convened Mechitza minyan.

So that's the background as I entered the first Shivyon minyan and my first exposure to it. There were about 30 or 40 people (some of whom I did not recognize from our regular Saturday morning crowd) seated in the small classroom which served as the sanctuary. A young woman conducted the davening and while there was more singing, the service was essentially similar to the one at the main sanctuary.

When we began to read from the Torah scrolls (Torah Portion BO) almost all of the aliyahs were given to women (I'm not certain if the first two were given, as customary, to daughters of a Cohen and a Levi).

The Torah reading itself was carried out by a committee of several women and men, among them, Annette Berman. And Abe Berman, in celebration of his birthday, did his usual sterling job of rendering the Haftorah reading impeccably.

I was extremely touched by the remark of Annette Berman, who had tears in her eyes as she told of how profound an experience it was for her to read from the Torah scroll.

Also striking and food for thought was a comment by a Rabbi present at the services who stated that 50% of the adult Jewish population is being deprived of any meaningful participation in our services and this is not fair or justified.

In conclusion, it was a worthwhile experience for me. It opened my eyes to the sense of deprivation felt by so many women at being excluded from any significant role at our services. What I had taken for granted all my life was no longer as immutable.

Simply being exposed to the Shivyon minyan was worthwhile. It let some light in as most exposure does. While I won't say it changed my vote, it certainly broadened and enhanced my views and I did go from unalterably opposed to more neutral.